The White Bear Theatre presented two separate shows this past week, the first being the bizarre Unwrap Your Candy which features three dark playlets framed by interjecting scenes of the actors portraying members of the audiences. The show had its charms, but ultimately didn’t succeed in creating a polished, relatable work.

The title comes from the introduction of the piece, which warns the audience not to make noise through some funny caricatures of obnoxious audience members. A hypoglycemic woman argues that it’s far more sensible for her to unwrap her candy in a show and risk some noise than potentially going full-on crazy with sugar deprivation.

Immediately following this, the four actors don leather masks and present the first piece, about the events which lead up to the disappearance of a young violin prodigy. The piece ends without offering any answers, which might have been acceptable if the story told had been interesting. The cast members then switch masks, and move onto the second piece, in which a realtor shows a strange man through a house which has recently been the site of a gruesome mass murder. The scene goes on for far too long, with a lot of moving around to simulate going through passages of the house. Ultimately, it too is anticlimactic and unrewarding. Finally, the last scene is the story of a woman who goes mad, imagining her unborn child is speaking to her from the womb.

The third is without a doubt the most interesting and dynamic piece of the three. It’s fair to say they get better as they go along, but often the production failed to find the proper balance of dark humor, instead switching from slapstick to macabre in a jolty, uncomfortable way. The masks, too, were a bit confusing – I didn’t quite see the necessity. The actors’ faces were hidden and they used little movement, so in fact hiding their expressions made the whole thing less interesting to watch.

The audience moments in between were relatable, featuring things we’ve all thought while sitting through a play, and getting a majority of the laughs. Overall though, the entire piece was intriguing, but unrewarding.

About Everything Theatre

Founded in 2011, Everything Theatre started life as a pokey blog run by two theatre enthusiasts and – thanks to the Entry Pass Scheme for 16-25 year olds – regular National Theatre goers. Today, we are run by part-time volunteers from a wide array of backgrounds. Among our various contributors are people who work in theatre, but also people who work in law, medicine, events, marketing and even psychiatry! We are all united by our love for the London theatre scene.